U2’s Ultra Violet Stage and Neon Logo
Original Stories by Aaron J. Sams (2023-08-30)
U2 unveiled a new logo for the shows at The Sphere this morning, which is being shared against their social media, as well as being displayed on The Sphere itself. The new logo uses a circular image on a square background in bright colours. The lettering itself appears to be an attempt to look like neon lighting where multiple tubes would be used to build a sign. Las Vegas of course has had a long history of neon signs over the years, and many of these older signs can be seen in The Neon Museum.
IMAGE: New U2 Logo for The Sphere Shows
The circle of the logo is a 3/4 complete circle in all video and still photos seen so far, including the images shown on the outside of the Sphere. With neon, you cannot have a full circle but it looks like this 3/4 circle may be more purposeful. We will let you draw your own conclusions. The music used in the video clips of the logo sound like they may be an alternate version of the ambient noises you hear at the start of the song “Ultra Violet” on Achtung Baby.
The logo itself looks a bit like a turntable platter on a base seen from above. Gareth Averill on Twitter was quick to point out the similarities to the turntable that Brian Eno developed as an art project in 2021, which used similar shapes and colours. That art project by Eno saw 50 turntables being produced and sold in his design. With that in mind, the logo looks a bit like a 7-inch record being played on a turntable being looked at from above. Eno’s name was noted among other production notes in the Sphere preview video, released when the show dates were first announced.
IMAGE: Brian Eno’s Turntable (2021)
The images also matches up with what we’ve seen of the stage design in promotional videos to date. The stage appears to be square in shape. When photos of the view from the limited view seats was sent out, the stage is pictured as small, with room for the four musicians on it, and looking square shaped overall, centered in the area at the bottom of the Sphere. This means there will be likely more room to either side of the stage for those in GA, rather than right in front of the stage.
IMAGE: Stage view from Ticketmaster Emails
Early videos promoting the tour give a few more looks into what is coming.
In some images, a half circle of lighting will be located over the stage and to the far sides. Most of the inner surfaces of the sphere will have screens covering them, so there is little room above the stage for such things.
IMAGE: Side View of Stage from Promotional Videos
It looks like the square platform will have multiple layers, and will be round in the middle, sitting on a square platform. The outer corner of the stage in engineering diagrams is listed at 4’8” in height, with an inner square area at 5’8” in height. The band will be performing on the center round portion of the stage, which will be 6’7” above the floor. This is quite a tall stage. The extra height will aid in seeing the band throughout the GA Floor, but will mean those in the very front row will be looking upwards. The view from the side, once again looks like the view of Brian Eno’s turntable.
IMAGE: Lit Views of Stage from Promotional Videos
It also appears that the stage will have it’s own independant lighting, and different areas of the stage will light with different colours, giving the appearance of a record player.
The shows open four weeks from Friday. We’re keeping our Sphere updates all in one location, including individual show reports, which can be visited here: https://www.u2songs.com/shows/U2xSphere
IMAGE: Drawing of Stage from Promotional Videos
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